How to Misuse Airtable
(And What to Do Instead)
Let’s be honest: Airtable is one of the most misused tools. For some, it’s the promised land – finally, a system that bridges the gap between spreadsheet chaos and structured data management. For others, it’s just another place to recreate the same mess they had in Excel, but now with pastel colours and kanban views.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen brands try it all. Here’s a closer look at the most misused ways we’ve seen Airtable used – and what you should be doing instead if you actually want it to work for your business.
1. Using Airtable Like an Excel Spreadsheet
We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve opened an Airtable base only to find it’s a direct copy-paste from Excel.
One brand spent years managing product data in spreadsheets. When they moved to Airtable, they just recreated the same table – same columns, same rows, same chaos – but now with record IDs attached.
Why is this a misuse? Because Airtable isn’t Excel. It’s a relational database tool. When you use it like a spreadsheet, you:
Miss out on linked records and data relationships.
Duplicate data across tables and bases.
Fail to build any foundations for automation.
Instead of treating Airtable as a pretty Excel, you need to reframe how you think about data. Map your entities and relationships – products, variants, suppliers, categories – and build linked tables that reflect how your business actually operates.
Otherwise, you’re just paying £20 a month for colourful rows.
2. Letting Everyone Loose in the Data Tables
Another classic. Airtable gives you granular permissions and interfaces for a reason – but too often, teams dump everyone into the backend tables and expect them not to break anything.
We saw one brand where merchandisers, buyers, e-commerce managers, and even warehouse staff were all editing the same tables directly. The result? Product data inconsistencies, deleted rows, overwritten SKUs, and a general sense of chaos.
The smart way? Interfaces. Airtable interfaces let you:
Create controlled forms and dashboards for specific teams.
Lock down critical fields while still letting people interact with data.
Guide user workflows to reduce errors.
Interfaces are a practical and powerful option for business adoption and non-tech user adoption. You can put in control, validation, and background automations so people can’t break anything.
If you’re still letting everyone edit the base tables directly, you’re effectively saying, “Here’s the database – good luck.”
3. Skipping Interfaces Entirely
This is the sibling mistake to the one above: refusing to build interfaces at all.
Interfaces aren’t just a nice-to-have. They’re how you drive adoption and protect your data structure.
When a fast-growth FMCG brand came to us, they’d spent years building their product database in Airtable. But they hit a breaking point when processes became unmanageable. The problem? Their Airtable was just a spreadsheet. No interfaces, no structured views, no guided flows – just raw tables. Every update meant doing the same thing in multiple places.
We proposed consolidating their data into a single base and building interfaces tailored to each workflow. The fix wasn’t rocket science. It was simply using Airtable for what it’s good at.
If your Airtable setup doesn’t include interfaces, you’re missing half the point of using it.
4. Using Airtable Just Because You Can
It’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing Airtable as a silver bullet. Need an app? Airtable. Need a PIM? Airtable. Need a PLM, ERP, CRM, and everything else in three letters? Airtable.
But just because you can build it in Airtable doesn’t mean you should.
We’ve seen brands build workflows that would have been better off in Shopify or a dedicated app. Sometimes a spreadsheet really is enough. Other times, Airtable’s limitations – like interface flexibility or custom logic – become a bottleneck, and you end up bolting on Zapier flows and custom scripts just to keep it alive.
The smarter approach? Evaluate the problem first. If you need relational data management with lightweight workflow tools, Airtable is brilliant. If you need fully custom front-end apps or heavy automations, consider whether Retool or native software is a better fit.
5. Ignoring the Future
We get it. You need a quick fix. But too often, Airtable builds are driven by immediate pain rather than long-term thinking.
Brands set up Airtable bases with no thought to future scale: no permissions structure, no naming conventions, no onboarding guides. Six months later, the whole thing collapses under its own weight.
Building Airtable to last means:
Designing for future data volumes.
Setting clear permissions and access rules.
Documenting processes so your build isn’t locked inside one person’s head.
Otherwise, you’re just creating tomorrow’s headache today.
Final Thoughts: Airtable Isn’t Dumb – But How You Use It Might Be
Airtable can transform how your teams work. But only if you use it properly.
If your Airtable still looks like a spreadsheet, if your teams are editing critical data tables directly, or if you’re building apps in Airtable just for the sake of it – it might be time to pause.
Ask yourself:
Is this structured around how we work, or is it just a prettier Excel?
Have we built interfaces that guide our teams and protect our data?
Are we thinking about scale, governance, and long-term value?
Want to avoid these mistakes?
We’ve helped some of the fastest growing brands rebuild their Airtable setups into scalable systems that actually drive value. If you want to do the same, you know where to find us.